The Code Zone Bargain Basement Blog

The Code Zone Bargain Basement Blog

Monday, August 24, 2009

of school and bribes

Posted - 8/24/2009 11:18:06 AM

Maggie started her second week of second grade today. She's thrilled to be back at her (new) school and has already made a couple of new buddies. The teacher wasn't too tough on 'em academically the first week, so Maggie let her boundless ambition get to work.

Her first day at school, she made a school newspaper. She planned to put copies in the school office as soon as she got permission to use the copy machine.
Second day at school, she wrote a play. It's about vampires that make you happy when they bite you. Sounds better than "Twilight".
Third day of school, she wrote a book with a friend. It's about superheroes.
Fourth day, she and her friend made the book into a movie screenplay. They'll be filming as soon as they find a camera.
Fifth day, they declared that the league of superheros about which they wrote a book and a screenplay, "The Kids of Power", is now a real thing and that her character (Ice Princess) and her other super-buddies (Candy, Fire-fur, and Shadow Girl) will be solving crimes.

No idea how they're gonna top that for week two, but I'm happy that she's getting to put her imagination to work.

Next, I get free stuff.

Just got done listening to a show on NPR about "mommy blogs" and how they *GASP* get free products to review. And they're contrasting 'em with "daddy blogs" in which the dads would send the review products back.

I'm not usually down on NPR, but the report was rather dumb. For one, the products that they said the "mommy blogs" reviewed were things like diapers and laundry detergent while the "daddy blogs" tended to review technology stuff like cellphones and game-consoles. To which I said "Wait, you're saying that reviewers should return a half-filled box of Tide in the same way that you'd be expected to return a loaner XBox?"

And I don't even wanna think about returning a "loaner" diaper. Yecch.

So, in the interest of full disclosure, I get free stuff. Especially books. While some books come from a publisher that sends me dang near every gamedev-title they print (Cengage), some other books come via requests from the author, some books arrive when a gamedevver wants me to check out a book for 'em and I contact the publisher for a freebie, and still other books just magically arrive on my doorstep without me asking for 'em at all.

And I don't review everything. Some books just don't fit gamedev all that well, like a couple of "how to build a Linux machine cheap" books that arrived on my doorstep last month. Those books, as well as "done being reviewed" books usually end up donated.

I also turn down many book requests. I get loads of requests to read novels and self-help books and religious books and other stuff. Apart from Daemon, I've turned 'em down. While I'd probably like to review novels and post 'em to the Bargain Basement Blog, press agents know where their bread is buttered. The reason they want me to review something is because they want it to appear on that big FEATURED ARTICLES box on the gamedev front page.

And while your latest vampire thriller might be a fun read (especially if the vampires make you happy when they bite you), I don't think that it's gamedev material.

Ditto for software and hardware. Most, but not all, of the stuff I review is gratis. Most of those Adobe products I reviewed early in the summer were stuff I purchased, but the Adobe Flex review was an NFR copy from the publisher. I have a Gyration "Air Mouse and Air Mouse GO Plus" gizmos on my desk that'll be reviewed in a month or so. The manufacturer doesn't want 'em back when I'm done.

And if you think that freebies guarantee that I'll give your product a good review, then you haven't read my latest couple of book reviews (1, 2). Fact is, the manufacturers/publishers know that sending out a review-product may very well lead to a one-star review that'll hurt sales. That's the risk they take. I haven't yet had someone take me to task for the honesty of something I've written. They can claim I made mistakes in my evaluation of the product (after all, I'm only human), but freebie-hood doesn't equate to a bribe.

And finally, I know that the gamedev book section is a mess. And the search doesn't work. And half of the covers are broken links. And half of the books are out of print. And the only things that appear as "New Books" are books that are on my personal review-queue. Basically we're at a "fix vs rewrite" tipping point with gamedev, and we're just letting the buggy stuff limp along until our glorious new Gamedev Version 5 appears. Once that happens, it'll get better. I promise.

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